• What is your opinion as an architect on the role of lighting in a project?

-In a project, lighting occupies a very important part of the design, but as a complementary part of it. Said in this way, you must first have a functional project, then an aesthetic one in terms of composition. Lighting is the one that starts to make the difference and makes the very composition of the project or the image that you will have in front of you when you are at a certain point in the project, thus making it dynamic. Practically, it means that at certain moments, you look at things differently. In addition to sunlight that has its normal changes, once every 8 or 10 hours according to the season, artificial lighting gives you the advantage to create and play with what nature does thanks to day and night. In addition to the light, for the way it is thrown, the game is also played with the lighting design part.

• A designer’s personal tastes often influence a design. Does this happen to you, and how can you define your tastes?

–Personally, I prefer the “diffuse” – scattered light fixtures. I don’t like the light to be a point, it should definitely have a highlighter role in some cases, for details that you will highlight, but if we had to set a ratio between the two, I would choose 70% diffused light and 25-30% point light, i.e. concentrated.

• In Albania, are there architects who are dedicated and specialized only in the lighting of a project?

–No, at least as far as the education part is concerned there are no individuals trained in the lighting part. It actually belongs to the school of design and the school of interior design. As far as I know, a branch has been opened at the university of architecture, I don’t know how it works. If we focus on the last 10 years of training of people who graduated in the branch of architecture, they did not receive any specific training in this field. This is exactly what has forced the interior architects to open the door, which is the school, and continue in a self-taught way by researching fantastic projects around the world, and taking them as a reference and a decisive element in their formation.

• If for some projects, lighting has been the final element, but which has given the most magical effect, has it ever happened that the wrong choice or “bad” lighting has led to the opposite effect?

-If you don’t use the lighting properly, it can also happen, which means, by not taking it specifically but generally, in places where there is no need for light, you cannot intervene because it destroys the contrasts it gives you an environment itself. For this reason, even dimming lamps are a solution because they give you the opportunity to adapt it thanks to the type of environment, the purpose of the event or any specific type that the environment requires.

• What elements should a lighting designer have to be successful according to you?

–If it is to be seen from the point of contact with the client, his mind must be found, the architect must be flexible, almost “plasticine”, i.e. empathetic to the maximum… because there are clients who like warm light and others who like cold light . You always have to adapt to the customer’s taste. But, when it comes to an object that is seen by a mass of people, the opinion and taste of the customer is no longer important, but the decision of the architect, who must have the ability to convince the customer of the best choice.

04 Nov, 2021